Industrial processes, such as processes that involve the grinding or combustion of materials such as coal, typically generate particulate matter that is carried by a process gas. In order to reduce emissions of particulate matter to the atmosphere, the process gas is often filtered in a gas cleaning plant before being discharged into the atmosphere. One manner of filtering the process gas involves directing the gas through a baghouse filter system. A baghouse filter system generally employs fabric filters in the form of tubular filter bags, each of which is retained in its tubular shape by a filter cage.
Baghouse filter cages may be several meters long. Because of their size, maintaining and storing them may be difficult and costly. To facilitate maintenance and storage, such baghouse filter cages may be modular to allow for assembly and disassembly. Modular baghouse filter cages, however, generally rely on the use of clips or other fastening devices that hold the baghouse filter cages together in rigid assemblies. In doing so, trained technicians often utilize various tools to ensure that the baghouse filter cages are suitably assembled and operable for their intended filtering processes.